1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to a hand down indicator for use by a sport""s official in tracking play during a game, the indicator including a pocket for housing at least one accessory item, such as a cleat measuring device for measuring a legal shoe cleat, and providing easy access thereto during the game.
2. Background of Related Art
Sports officials, such as umpires and referees, must often perform various duties during the course of a game. Such duties include tracking the play of the game, make rulings on plays and checking equipment to see that it meets regulations. The officials often perform these multiple duties on the field of play, without returning to the sidelines or a home base so that play of the game is minimally interrupted. It is therefore advantageous if the officials can carry with them items which allow them to perform their various duties. Since officials are on the move, often running to keep up with the play of the game, carrying such items should not hinder their abilities to perform their duties and should not result in losing the items carried.
In the sport of American football, officials must likewise track the play of the game, for example the particular down. Hand down indicators are widely used in the sport of football and provide an easy way for officials to track play during a game. More specifically, conventional hand down indicators include an elastic wristband which is wrapped around the official""s wrist, and a finger loop extending from the wristband. During a football game, the official selectively places the finger loop over one of his/her fingers in order to track play of the game. For example, the finger loop may be placed over the official""s index finger to indicate a first down, may then be moved to the official""s middle finger to indicate a second down, and may finally be moved to the official""s ring finger to indicate a third down. Although hand down indicators perform well for their intended purpose, they do not aid the official in performing other duties, such as checking equipment to see if it meets regulations.
The sport of football has several regulations set regarding equipment which vary between high school, college and professional football. One such regulation involves the size of the player""s shoe cleats. For example, the NCAA rules state that the size of a player""s cleats may not be more than xc2xd inch in length as measured from the tip of the cleat to the sole of the shoe, or to a raised platform measuring {fraction (5/32)} of an inch or less (Rule 1, Section 4, Articles 5e-f). Longer cleats may provide a team with a competitive advantage, depending upon ground conditions, and may also be a safety hazard. Therefore, the penalty for cleats which are not regulation size is severe, i.e. disqualification from the contest and the next game as well. If an official suspects that a player""s cleats are too long, he/she must manually measure the cleats to determine if they do, in fact, meet or exceed the regulation size. In the past, officials have utilized a cut-out portion of the score card in order to check cleat sizing. However, the score cards are of paper covered plastic and readily deteriorate when soiled or wet (which usually occurs when checking cleat size) thereby limiting or destroying the ability of the score card to take an ink or pencil mark, i.e. the intended purpose of the score card. Therefore, many officials chose not to use the cut-out portion of the score card to check cleat size.
There is therefore needed in the art a device which can help an official track play of the game while also storing and providing easy access to accessory items utilized by officials during the game.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact, self-contained hand-down indicator having at least one pocket for housing an accessory item, such as a cleat checking device, to aid the official in tracking play of the game while storing and providing easy access to the accessory item.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a hand-down indicator for aiding a football official in tracking downs during an American-style football game, the down indicator including a pocket for holding and storing accessory items which may be easily accessed by the official during the game. The down indicator also preferably includes an elastic wristband configured to be wrapped around the official""s wrist, and a finger loop extending from the wristband. The pocket may be positioned on an inside surface of the wristband, or on an outside surface of the wristband and is sized to house the accessory items. In one embodiment, the pocket may include a flap for covering the open end of the pocket. In another embodiment, a cleat checking device which may be used by the official to check the size of a player""s cleats during the game is removably supported within the pocket. The cleat checking device may also be attached to the finger loop to provide easy access thereto and to prevent misplacement of the cleat checking device. In another embodiment, the pocket includes two or more compartments for storing other accessory devices, such as the official""s coin for the coin toss. During a football game, the official may insert and remove items from within the pocket while tracking play of the game by selectively places the finger loop over one of his/her fingers as described above.